Button: ‘[Matthews] not even close to Leon Draisaitl’

It’s early in the season and the Toronto Maple Leafs have not been as advertised. A little bit of domination mixed in with a whole lot of defensive holes and periods of some of the worst hockey coming from this group of players.

This insecurity among the fanbase has led to some media members speaking about the team in a way to get a pure reaction.

In his radio appearance, Button had high praise for the Edmonton Oilers forward, while also lowering Matthews to below Draisaitl’s level. The bigger quote demands some attention and clearly the TSN analyst is tired of the hype that the Leafs centre has been getting since his debut.

Matthews has been discussed as one of the best players in the league based on reputation and some stats mixed together. Since he entered the league, he has scored the most even-strength goals, while Draisaitl is sitting at 22nd in that list — with the same amount as Eric Staal and less than Brandon Gallagher.

The Oilers forward is definitely elite in his own right, but Matthews has been able to score goals at whim and is currently suffering from some sort of team-wide cold streak. While in Edmonton, the other forward has been stapled to one of the greatest players to ever live and been able to succeed together.

Both players are great, so can we just not fight over who is better. Certain stats make both players look better than the other. Let’s just enjoy some elite forwards.